The “fifth risk” was the attack from populist politicians on the idea of good government – bullying and firing independent experts and undermining the deep institutional knowledge of civil servants – in their crowd-pleasing efforts to “dismantle bureaucracy”. Or, in Lewis’s terms, to carelessly destroy “what you never learn that might have saved you”.

UNIPACE international postgraduate education programmes

Vision & Global Trends proudly announces its partnership with the International University for Peace of Rome (UNIPACE), office of the United Nations University for Peace.

The partnership aims to the promotion and the intermediation regarding the recently launched UNIPACE international postgraduate education programmes, both focused on studies on the China-led “Belt and Road Initiative”.

PARAH KHANNA

In the 19th century, the world was Europeanized. In the 20th century, it was Americanized. Now, in the 21st century, the world is being irreversibly Asianized.

The “Asian Century” is even bigger than you think. Far greater than just China, the new Asian system taking shape is a multi-civilizational order spanning Saudi Arabia to Japan, and Russia to Australia—linking five billion people through trade, finance and infrastructure networks that together represent 40 percent of global GDP. China has taken a lead in building the new Silk Roads across Asia, but it will not lead it alone. Rather, Asia is returning to the stable multipolar order that existed long before European colonialism and American dominance, with India and Southeast Asia coming into their own as economic and strategic hubs. Large but dormant societies from Iran to Indonesia are finally emerging, teeming with young and urban, ambitious and entrepreneurial youth, while from Saudi Arabia to Vietnam, privatization is unlocking a new wave of growth. Asians are sharing economic and governance models as never before, and their confident outward push is reshaping business and culture life across North America and Europe, South America and Africa. From investment portfolios and trade wars to Hollywood movies and holiday travels, no aspect of life is immune from Asianization.

Power and Diplomacy: India’s Foreign Policies during the Cold War

The notion that a monolithic idea of ‘nonalignment’ shaped India’s foreign policy since its inception is a popular view. In Power and Diplomacy, Zorawar Daulet Singh challenges conventional wisdom by unveiling another layer of India’s strategic culture. In a richly detailed narrative using new archival material, the author not only reconstructs the worldviews and strategies that underlay geopolitics during the Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi years, he also illuminates the significant transformation in Indian statecraft as policymakers redefined some of their fundamental precepts on India’s role in in the subcontinent and beyond. His contention is that those exertions of Indian policymakers are equally apposite and relevant today.

Whether it is about crafting a sustainable set of equations with competing great powers, formulating an intelligent Pakistan policy, managing India’s ties with its smaller neighbours, dealing with China’s rise and Sino-American tensions, or developing a sustainable Indian role in Asia, Power and Diplomacy strikes at the heart of contemporary debates on India’s unfolding foreign policies.

This book is a response to the fundamental questions that have confronted the UK economy for decades which successive governments of the right and the left have failed to deal with adequately. Some of these questions are obvious, such as ‘Why does poverty still beset a large number of people, whilst others are grossly well-off?’; ‘Why are house prices continuously rising much faster than inflation, so that more and more people are left without a house of their own, or are borne down by the weight of a mortgage?’; ‘Why does UK productivity remain persistently low, despite constantly improving technology?’.

Other questions are less obvious, or are ignored through a belief that they arise from the natural order of things, such as ‘Why do the majority of workers find themselves as employees in jobs that give them little real sense of fulfilment?’; ‘Why is there awful traffic congestion, despite heavy expenditure on transport infrastructure?’; ‘Why does the tax system fail to bring about greater equality, despite progressive rates of tax on incomes?’.

All these questions, obvious or not, are perennial ones, not particularly related to membership of the European Union, but in another sense this book has a lot to do with Brexit, for the simple reason that Brexit leaves the UK economy in a new, unprecedented position. This inevitably arouses both hopes and fears of substantial change. Such hopes and fears may be irrational, but they raise the possibility of genuine reform. However, the author argues, Brexit alone does not change anything fundamental about the economy.

Why this is so, is because what requires fundamental reform is not any features of being in or out of the EU, but more deeply embedded ones, which have generally been established for a very long time. They are principally threefold: the taxation system, the land tenure system, and the banking system. All three require root and branch reform. The concerns engendered by Brexit may provide an opportunity lacking in more equable times.

Author Details

Brian Hodgkinson qualified as a chartered accountant in the City of London, then won a scholarship to Oxford where he took a first in Philosophy, Politics and Economics and won the George Webb Medley Prize in Economics. Subsequently he taught Philosophy in the Social Studies School at Sussex University, before switching to teaching Economics in Sixth Forms. As the founder editor of British Economy Survey, he kept in touch with applied economics and questions of public policy. He is the author of A New Model of the Economy, The Advancement of Civilisation in the Western World and several other books.

We are delighted that two of our authors have been voted as finalists in The People's Book Prize. Please support Tessa West and Marika Henriques by voting for them between 1-30 April. This competition is entirely based on reader votes. If you haven't read them there is an offer below to get a discount on your copy - act now and there should be time to read it and vote too!

The Hidden Girl: The Journey of a Soul Marika Henriques

Marika Henriques records in words and images how she was shaped and her profession determined by historical events. Born in Budapest in 1935, she was only nine when separated from her family during the Holocaust in 1944 and became a hidden child. Those dark times had a profound and lasting effect on her. That being a Jew was shameful and had to be hidden remained deeply etched into her being for decades. During psychoanalysis the drawings and poems poured out of her as part of the healing process. Later she has stitched 19 of them as tapestries. The gentler pace of stitching was all a part of the healing process, and they are woven together with the drawings and poems in the book as she unfolds her story, the story of wounding and healing, herself and others.

There are numerous Sue Ryder charity shops throughout the UK, but few shoppers know much about their founder - this is her first biography. Miss Ryder was a determined and philanthropic woman who created homes for those who were damaged by trauma and injury experienced during the Second World War. Sue Ryder made a huge and positive difference to many thousands, despite – or perhaps because of – having a character which could be as downright difficult as it could be inspiring. She was brought up to help others and she committed her life to doing so. This book was written so that Sue Ryder’s name, work and life are not forgotten.

Shepheard-Walwyn (Publishers) Ltd

The Sustainable State: The Future of Government, Economy, and Society by Chandran Nair

The free-market, limited-government development model has been an ecological and social disaster for the developing world. Sustainable and equitable development is possible only with the active involvement of a strong central state that can guide the economy, protect the environment, and prioritize meeting its people's basic needs.

In this sure-to-be-controversial book, Chandran Nair shows that the market-dominated model followed by the industrialized West is simply not scalable. The United States alone, with less than 5 percent of the world's population, consumes nearly a quarter of its resources. If countries in Asia, where 60 percent of the world's population lives, try to follow the Western lead, the results will be calamitous.

Noopolitics - Philosophy of History, World Order and Intercivilizational Relations by Dr. Nicolas Laos

The Third Dimension

A “3D” rainforest produces 200 tons of biomass per acre per year. The best harvests from our “2D” flatland farms yield 4 tons per acre per year. That’s the promise of The Third Dimension. If we use the space, and resources available, we can grow an abundance of food and fuel. It is possible to feed 10, or even 12 billion people on planet earth with healthy and tasty food without destroying the environment. In fact, in the process, we can restore much damage done, put nature back on its evolutionary path, generate millions of jobs, and rebuild communities.